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Lowell schools hope grant writer is money in the bank (VIDEO)

By Katie Lannan, klannan@lowellsun.com

Updated:
09/16/2013 09:15:29 AM EDT

LOWELL -- A privately funded grant writer will work on behalf of the Lowell School Department this year, and advocates for creating the position said it will create new opportunities for the city's students.

Director of Grants and Partnership Development Susan Linn will be introduced to the School Committee at Wednesday's meeting.

"A grant writer can help to have our students compete on an even playing field with students in districts with more resources," School Committee member Dave Conway said. "I think this is a great opportunity to really help our kids."

Conway said he came up with the idea of bringing on board a grant writer about three years ago, and approached members of the local business community to see if it would be possible to independently raise enough money to hire someone.

Susan Linn, the newly hired director of grants and partnerships for the Lowell Public Schools, speaks to board members of the Greater Lowell Community Foundation. At right is George Duncan, chairman of Enterprise Bank. SUN/David H. Brow

Business and community leaders, including Enterprise Bank founder and Chairman George Duncan, Sun Chairman of the Board Kendall Wallace, and Brian Martin, now the Lowell High School headmaster, joined with the Greater Lowell Community Foundation to create Project LEARN -- the Lowell Educational Alliance Resource Network.

Linn, who signed a three-year contract, will report to the Project LEARN advisory committee and be paid through raised donations.

"If you look at it," Duncan said, "the business community is raising the money, so it's private money going into hiring this person to seek out national grants and bring in, hopefully, large dollars to the city of Lowell.

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A public-private partnership like this lets the School Department reap the benefits of a full-time grant writer without cutting into its own staff budget, Conway said.

"Money's extremely tight," he said. "I think what people would say is, we need more first-grade teachers, we need more reading teachers, and that's true."

More independence will also give Linn leeway to pursue the grants and funding opportunities she thinks the city would have the best shot at winning, based on her experience and knowledge in the field, Conway said.

Linn, who lives in Nashua, most recently worked for the Newton Public Schools. Before that, she held a grant-writing position for the city of Fall River.

Linn said urban districts like Boston and Worcester tend to have full grant-seeking departments to explore funding possibilities.

"Lowell hasn't had that," she said. "So there's really a lot of opportunity to come in and put together a plan and, hopefully, have great success where there haven't been people and resources to go after big success."

Linn worked in Newton for 10 years. She said she was able to raise between $3 million to $5 million a year for the city's schools.

"We need somebody that's talking about raising that type of money so we can get into all of these specialty programs in the Lowell schools and at Lowell High School and really raise the whole standard in the city," Duncan said.

Although her salary is funded by donors and the position is co-sponsored by UMass Lowell, Linn said she will spend about 85 percent of her time working in the main district office of the School Department.

"That's one of the strengths I see about Lowell, really, the diversity and number of people who are really invested in the Lowell Public Schools succeeding," she said.

In addition to seeking and applying for grant funding, Linn will also help the schools develop partnerships with outside organizations and businesses, which she said creates a network of support services for students.

Currently, Linn is working on a partnership with the Army, taking advantage of the military branch's science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, curriculum. She said she's exploring ways that Army personnel could visit Lowell High School, providing tutoring or in-class lectures for Lowell students.

"I think of Lowell as a community that's on its way over a cliff," Linn said. "There's not that much that's going to be required to go over that cliff to a place that's really fantastic."

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